NOVEL NEXT Parting Ways
Emalynn POV
Taking a peek at Rory, I can see her overwhelming emotions surface. "My name is Rosewyn Sillber. My friends call me, Ro." Rory had happy tears trickle down her face.
"Is that name special?" I asked, trying to keep my excitement from spilling over. I haven't seen her this happy in a few years. We both needed this uplifting moment.
"Sillber is her mother's maiden name." Elias said. Rory nodded with misty eyes.
"It fits you well, Ms. Ro." Madam Kaya smiled. “Go ahead and get clean ladies. There is a bathroom on either side of the room, so you may both freshen up. I will call my friend to come for the glamor charm. We don’t have much time.” Madam Kaya left the table without another word.
I can see that she is definitely the older sister in Uncle Elias’s family. She’s worse than Myrra as my guild master. Yuck. I kind of just want to run wild here and piss her off, but I know Uncle Elias would go all parental on me. Rory would probably make me double my training as punishment. I regret asking her to train me a few months ago, but I want to catch up to her. Just because I am a little bit younger doesn’t mean I am not strong enough to handle myself. We had plans to become S rank guild members, so we could prove to the Guild Association that the academy at our guild is worth having. We would make our names and our story known, so kids like us could have the same opportunities.
I could feel my tail twitch in all directions from my passionate feelings. This whole situation is bonkers because I am just leaving all that I knew. I have grown so much in my skills and confidence in this one week than I have in the last year. This job opened my eyes as to how big the gap in skills between Rory and I actually is. She went to some shit crazy mode to save our asses from bandits and a magical dark elf. I owe her my life, but I will settle for being her best friend for life. She needs me to help her keep her emotions in check and find out to control her shit crazy mode. Plus, I need the time to find out what’s actually going on in her life since she’s been living in secret her entire life.
Elias excused himself from the room. Neither of us said anything as we proceeded to our much needed showers. The bug guts might be dry, but they have started to make me itchy. Entering the bathroom, I realize this the fanciest place I have ever seen dedicated to peeing and shiting. I would feel bad for stinking up the gorgeous white and gold accented masterpiece. A closer look at the sink, shower and toilet and there are roses imprinted into the porcelain. I thought the house was amazing, but who spends the time to make a guest bathroom this fancy? I look in the gold framed mirror to see my eyes nearly bugling out of my head. It’s then that I realize I should not be so worked up over a fancy bathroom.
Disrobing, I turn the water on nice and hot, and I find six different kinds of sweet smelling soaps with scrubbers, shampoo and conditioner for each kind. This Madam Kaya doesn’t play when it comes to providing a wonderful experience to her guests. I picked the jasmine scented collection and let the water soak my skin and fur. My fur doesn't cover all of my peachy skin, which means less knots to untangle. On my arms, the knots are bunched and reach all the way to the peaks of my fur on my elbows. On my legs, the knots peak about midway on each calve where my fur ends. The fur covers most of my back, but not my front, which makes getting all the knots out a pain.
Ten minutes of scrubbing, shampooing, conditioning and combing later, I am free of dried bug guts. The towels are ridiculously soft, and I kind of just roll up and fall asleep. A knock at the door ends my spa time for now, but I will be back. Wrapping up in a towel, I open the door to find a fresher looking Rory. She's wrapped in a towel as well looking at the mysterious garment bags Uncle Elias left behind.
I sneak up behind and jump up exclaiming, "The mysterious garment bags!" Rory squealed at me in surprise, but my focus turned to the garment bags. I realized that they were probably for us. I bet Uncle Elias picked out some weird colored dresses or something. He always knows how to make things fun.
Rory cautiously opened the first bag and a tag with the letter R fell out. She found a lovely dark blue, sweetheart neckline dress with silver scrolling and embellishment. The short sleeves were off the shoulder showcasing Rory’s beauty. Rory held the dress up in the standing mirror, admiring Elias’s selection. She would look beautiful.
Opening my garment bag, I found a beautiful pink gown that would hug my small curves. Like Rory’s, mine had gold scrolling with straps instead of sleeves. There was a thin gold sheer wrap to match my bright dress. "I believe it is safe to say Uncle Elias does good work." I said, raising my eyebrows to give a wow factor. At the bottom of the bags were black ankle length boots for Rory and pink ribbons for me. I don't do shoes. Most beast folk don't do shoes. I laced the ribbon around my feet and legs, and put on my gown. Last time I was this dressed up was the banquet after Rory’s tournament win. I look in the mirror and admire my womanly figure. My childhood days are behind me.
Rory appeared next to me in her beautiful blue and silver gown. Her stylish black boots complimented her gown perfectly. We are ready for Madam Kaya and her friend to finish our looks though I wonder what they could really change about me since I am at least half covered in white fur. I adorned my white tail with a little pink bow from the ribbon wrapped around my feet. If I have to change the color of my fur, I wonder if it will match my happy attitude as well as my white fur does. My body is already bored of just waiting for Madam Kaya to appear, so I go back to reading my fake identity and background.
Emera Myrra was born in Nel'sían, a small village on the edge of the Desfyra and the Northern Mountains. So, new me was born on the edge of the elven Kingdoms unlike my birth village that bordered the Northern Mountains and the giants' kingdom, Jotunuvar. I will have to remember my elvish that Elias taught me. Although most people speak a common tongue these days, some elders prefer their native languages. I read further to find that unlike me, my new identity had a whole family. My heart sank. I know I had a family once upon a time. My memories are vague, but I remember my dad teaching me to do flips. My mom's green eyes that with one look would get my brother and I to behave. I lost them all to the last of the beast folk hunters. Tears formed at the edge of my eyes and remembered their voices apologizing to me. It was about a week later that I started working for those miners until Myrra found me.
Knocking on the door, pulled me out of my memories. Rory answered the door promptly, revealing Madam Kaya and her cloaked friend. The two walked in the room, seemingly pleased with our appearances so far. Madam Kaya stopped in front of a vanity, prompting me to come to her. Rory stood beside me as I sat on the bench in front of the vanity. I took Rory's hand in mine as the cloaked figure started digging in her bag. I guess this means it's time to bury Emalynn for a while.